The Dark Waters
by A.H.O.L
Summary: The dark waters of an ancient lake possesses a demonic being. A single tear shed by a broken woman destroys all the natural balance and awakens the deadly beast from its eternal rest. Now the dark creature is out for revenge and it wants to devour her innocence, it wants to taint her pure soul. Will she escape or will the darkness consume her whole? Only time may tell. AU. Lokane.


_**The Dark Waters**_

_Chapter 1: The Awakening_

* * *

_Sorrow like a ceaseless rain,_

_Beats upon my heart._

_People twist and scream in pain,_

_Dawn will find them still again;_

_This has neither wax nor wane,_

_Neither stop nor start._

_People dress and go to town;_

_I sit in my chair._

_All my thoughts are slow and brown:_

_Standing up or sitting down,_

_Little matters, or what gown,_

_Or what shoes I wear._

— _**Edna St. Vincent Millay**_

* * *

Mystery surrounded her wherever she looked – mystery and loneliness. She was now accustomed to the latter but the former still made her heart ache. The unknown hurt her. She still possessed curiosity albeit without determination.

Night arrived and the sky overhead looked dull and dead, wrought and wrong. She could see no moon, she could find no stars – all was bleak. To her, nights were the hardest and sadness seemed like a constant companion.

Her place was a double-storey. It was neither small nor big. There was a lounge, dining room and kitchenette on the ground floor and two bedrooms, a bathroom and balcony on the first floor. On the right side, another small structure stood a little far away from her place. It was smaller than her house. Named 'Polaris' was her little observatory/celestial antique shop. It was once the source of her happiness, her lifesaving, her hope, her dream – her little treasure chest. But now it was just a place which represented shattered dreams and broken promises, haunted memories and eerie whispers. She was utterly afraid. Utterly afraid of it.

Like always, her house felt empty. She wanted to live alone. It was her choice and no one else's. She moved her eyes all around as she stood on a lone balcony. Dark forests surrounded her abode but all she could perceive was darkness and nothing else.

There was no civilization where she lived. She had no neighbors. She didn't need any. Solitary confinement suited her lifestyle. She felt melancholic and heartbroken – heartbroken because she had lost someone special, precious. This place haunted her to no extent.

She heard the roar of thunder, saw the flash of lightning and sudden tears stung her eyes as dark clouds overwhelmed the heavens above and heavy rain pelted upon her fragile frame. The raindrops mingled with her own tears. It was as if the sky mourned alongside her. It wasn't alarming, it wasn't strange. It just rained every single night. No, there was absolutely nothing wrong with this place. Maybe, she was the odd one out – a total misfit. She always felt that way about herself and after _his_ death, she felt even more insignificant, irrelevant – unwanted, unneeded.

More tears cascaded down her cheeks as frigid gales numbed her senses. The downpour was getting stronger but she seemed unperturbed. She hated this month – she hated October. _He_ died last year. . .

In October.

She just couldn't forget anything. She just couldn't forget _him_. It was most unfortunate and inevitable but try as she might, she just couldn't forget. And it pained her little heart.

_He_ was her everything and when _he_ left, _he_ took everything with _him_, leaving her disoriented and emotionally crippled. _He_ was after all her mentor, her foster father – _Dr. Erik Selvig_.

She turned away from the balcony and ran inside. Madness consumed her being. She ran and ran, hastily opening and closing the doors of her house. She didn't know what possessed her but she ran none-the-less. . .

One final slam later she stood all alone outside her place.

Thunder boomed overhead as rain still decanted ruthlessly over her petite body, she on the other hand didn't give a damn. She was hopeless and she wanted answers, desperately. Her frame trembled uncontrollably, she wasn't afraid, she wasn't cold. She breathed aloud, she looked disheveled and she knew it, but still, she didn't care. Tears continued to run down her cheeks and the raindrops continued to mask them. Her eyes looked wild, almost unfocused and they solely watched something that stretched so vastly and incessantly in front of her. She wasn't afraid of it. She wasn't afraid of its darkness, its endlessness, its ruthlessness.

She wasn't afraid of the 'Jade Lake'.

The dark forests bordered the lake like a black widow's web. Shrouded darkness and rumored dangers lurked within these very depths – unbridled, unrestrained. Her abode was nestled precariously near one bank of the lake. The lake's depth was immeasurable. Its waters were deep and vicious. The color was darkened jade, so dark that it seemed bleak and endless, austere and desolate. Whenever it rained at night, the lake spewed horrendous noises – noises like tortured, haunted souls howling their anguish out of the cold, darkened waters, their earsplitting pleas reaching the heavens above. Every night seemed like a nightmare and she would hide her head underneath her pillow and cry all night till daybreak. With dawn, nothing seemed strange. No sounds, no reminder of the tortured, haunted souls. The lake seemed solemn, almost calm – the deathly calm before another storm.

Strangely, tonight she could hear nothing. There was rain as it continued to fall unabashedly on the dark waters of the lake but, there was no sound. The waters were calm and the lake was quiet. She could hear the pitter-patter of the rain, could see the ripples on the surface of the lake as each raindrop hit it.

At that time, nothing made any sense. So she followed her instincts. It was like she was being pulled towards the lake by some mysterious, unknown force and she couldn't resist it – she didn't want to. The lake was a trap and she was a victim – a very willingly insane victim. She ran and ran towards it like a moth to a flame. She knew she wasn't afraid of it. It was the sole cause of her loneliness, her despair. She hated it with all her being as anguish turned to anger in her veins. Her steps faltered when she reached the edge, she was dangerously close to the lake. A few more steps and she could submerge in its dreary depths. She knew the consequences, the risks involved. . .

She didn't know how to swim.

And even though she wasn't herself right now, she knew that she never wanted to end her life this way. _Erik_ would be so disappointed with her. So, she stayed where she was – staring wildly at the lake like a badly hurt animal. The rain didn't stop falling as hot tears continued to run down her cheeks, when strangled sobs left her lips. It didn't stop when she fisted her locks, when she yanked them mercilessly until blood stained her scalp red. It didn't stop when she screamed and screamed _his_ name out frantically until she lost her senses. It didn't stop when she fell back, when her head hit the hard cobblestones near the edge of the lake.

But, as she fell, her tears sprang in all directions. Her head slammed against the hard ground and one of her tears hit the surface of the lake. . .

The change was abrupt – all-embracing in magnitude. And suddenly. . .

The rain stopped falling, all at once.

The cold gales ceased. The thundering died down. The lightning vanished into thin air. The dark clouds scurried away. The ever-gloomy night sky beamed fiercely with the brightness of the ever-burning constellations and the brilliance of the ever-glowing moon.

The lunar rays illuminated the lake, chasing away its dark shadows and giving it an almost ethereal hue – a verdant glow encased it entirely.

Her tear – lone in its journey, didn't become the part of the dark waters, it didn't lose its identity, it didn't merge with the liquid darkness. The viridian radiance surrounding the dark lake pierced its heart. Then the green glow dissipated but the lone tear continued its journey downwards, going deeper into the cavernous abyss that was the bottom of the Jade Lake.

Within the bleakness lay an ancient being – hidden from the above world, hidden from everyone and everything. The creature lay unmoving – it experienced assiduous siesta. It breathed evenly. Its heart beat calmly inside its chest. It seemed utterly intimidating as it lay hidden in the shadows. It had been dormant in these waters for several millennia. Its rest seemed endless and uninterrupted, until now. . .

Her tear penetrated the coldness, the bleakness that surrounded the said being. It cut through the darkness with sudden tenderness. It vanquished the frigidity with utter kindness – like the first, warm rays of the ever-blazing sun touching the ever-dismal night sky with proud gentleness. Its radiance lit the heart of the lake. It kept on moving till it reached its final destination. It lost its luminosity as it fell upon an alabaster cheek like a lone dewdrop resting upon the sole petal of a white rose. Serpentine, deep emerald eyes opened abruptly and. . .

The darkness and the coldness returned.

Immediately, a long, sable talon viciously picked up the offensive, lone tear. It was then brought to eye-level. With narrowed eyes, the said being continued to observe it. Curiosity turned to ferocity as rage welled up inside the dark creature of the lake. It moved its talon and the tear faded away. It unfurled the broad, chiropteran wings that surrounded its entire frame like a dark, silken cocoon. It stood upright upon its limbs and moved its emerald orbs towards the surface. Darkness surrounded it entirely but nothing mattered to it right now.

It furled its wings and then it swiftly moved towards the surface, easily breaking through the bleak abyss that was the core of the dark lake.

It was awake once more and now, its thirst was back. Its blood-lust was back. It wanted revenge as extreme wrath sang in its veins. It was infuriated and as it neared the surface of the lake, only a single thought continuously reverberated in its mind:

_To annihilate the scum that dared to wake it up from its eternal siesta._

* * *

_**A/N:**_

Hi everyone, I'm back with another **Lokane** tale and this time I mean business. Sorry for the delay as I was busy with life and its screwballs. I lost my twin babies as I miscarried and I'm currently getting a divorce. So yeah, greetings new readers and love to all the old ones. This story is a rip-off of my original **Ulquihime** novel, **'The Crimson Pearl of the Jade Lake',** so if you see any resemblances, **do not** and I mean it, **do not** **flame** under any circumstance as **it's not plagiarism**, I'm using my own plot once more, twisting and rewriting it with different characters. I was **Ati-Cha** back then and now I have a different pen-name. So don't accuse me of anything, flamers will be immediately shot down. I never got the chance to finish my Ulquihime story but I plan to finish this one. Don't give out any plot spoilers, I'm warning you **Rin Sessys Girl**. **XD**

I think that both Ulquihime and Lokane possess a lot of similarities. With Loki/Ulquiorra and all the cold-dark-tragic, green-black stuff and Orihime/Jane and all the joy-courage-determination, sunny-warm stuff. Not to mention Ulquiorra and Loki both possess green eyes, both have a tragic past and both are ruthlessly cold, merciless (in a good, sexy way **;D**) and Jane and Orihime are both stubborn, reckless and completely determined in any given circumstance to do anything for the ones they love. Plus don't forget, Ulquihime and Lokane both possess awesome chemistry between the leads (it's almost sizzling, electrifying, mesmerizing and so on and so on. . .). So yeah, a lot of similarities in my point-of-view. If you disagree then I respect your POV but do not cuss'. I won't be accepting any shit from you. If you are a fan of both Ulquihime/Lokane then this is my ultimate gift to you.

I will be updating my other Lokane story, **'Upheaval – Neutron Star Collision' **very soon. So stay tune for more.

This story is dedicated to all my friends who encouraged me, supported me, personal messaged me during and after my miscarriage especially my little sister, **Rin Sessys Girl **and my awesome friends: **KhaleesiEatTheRude**, **billiejoe4ever**, **Anonymous Companion** and **jeadamized**. I salute you and love you a lot my friends. You are all heroes in my eyes.

This story will become more twisted and dark with the forthcoming chapters so you have been warned beforehand. I write dark fics. So sue me all you want, I just don't care as an M-rating means an M-rating. I know there is still a lot of confusion but all will be explained in the later chapters.

**Pre-cap of the next update:**

*****Behold the dark-and-angry lake monster and the sad-and-unconscious lonely girl will meet albeit indirectly. You'll see. . . Come on, give me a break, I'm not talking about Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves here! Dummies. **XD**

******You'll know what happened to Erik. Tsk, tsk. Wait a bit longer folks.

Yeah I know, my author's note is insanely long, so I'll shut up now.

**Read and review** and I ain't begging ya.

Take care all. Happy New Year.

With Love,

**A.H.O.L.**


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